If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

FL - Brodie Kent, 15 mos, shaken to death, Milton, 24 Oct 2014

A Milton woman will face upgraded charges in connection to the death of an infant who allegedly suffered severe abuse at her home daycare.

State Attorney Bill Eddins said by the end of the day, the charge against Thelma Denise Lowery likely will be upgraded from aggravated child abuse to aggravated child abuse resulting in death, the equivalent of second-degree murder.

Brodie succumbed to his injuries the following week, and the State Attorney's Office upgraded the charges against Lowery to the equivalent of second degree murder. Last week, a grand jury reviewed the case and found sufficient grounds to up the charge again to first degree murder.

If convicted, Lowery now faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. She currently is being held in Santa Rosa County jail without bond.

Testimony in the murder case against a Milton day care provider started Tuesday with a medical expert saying the 15-month-old victim had injuries consistent with having been shaken.

Thelma Lowery, 58, faces the charge in connection to the death of Brodie Kent, who was in her care at her home day care, Lowery's Little Angels, when he was injured Oct. 24, 2014. Brodie died five days later.

During the trial Wednesday, Sacred Heart Hospital pediatric neurosurgeon Matthew Pearson said doctors tried to alleviate swelling in Brodie's brain by removing some external tissue around the brain and part of the skull, but it didn't work.

"It's rare we have to act in essentially desperation to save the child," he told the jury.

Brodie's pediatrician, John Vanostenbridge, said while Brodie was born preterm, he had met all developmental milestones. Vanostenbridge said the child's last visit to him had been about three months before Brodie's death, and he had no history of seizures or any other disease or condition.

For the Kent family — the ones dressed in orange as a nod to the toddler's love for bright colors — every day of the trial is a reminder of the baby who was lost, no matter how it happened.

"He was sweet, beautiful, and there is so much about him that will never be forgotten by anyone," said Brodie's mom, Ashley Kent. "My goal is for everyone to think of Brodie and see his sweet smile, wrinkled little nose and big blue eyes."

"(It's) devastating, painful, I don't really know if there's a word to explain it," his mom remembered about the call saying Brodie was in hospital. "I was confused, I didn't understand how he would go from a perfectly healthy 15-month-old to having to go through emergency surgery. No parent deserves to have to see their child suffer. Nobody should ever have to bury their baby."

A Santa Rosa County jury found a Milton day care owner guilty of murder Friday for the death of a toddler in her care.

Thelma Lowery, 58, was immediately sentenced by Judge Kelvin Wells to life in prison without the possibility of parole for an attack on 15-month-old Brodie Kent that left him with fatal brain swelling.